Police target drug hot spots

Data program tracks illegal activity

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, May 23, 2006

It was just last week that law enforcement officials announced the results of a months-long crackdown on sidewalk drug dealers with the arrests of more than 400 suspected dealers.

Today at a meeting of the Belltown Community Council, police and city officials plan to take another step in attacking the problem of street-level drug dealing -- using Narcstat, a data-collection program officers are using to focus their efforts on problem areas.

One citywide map created using the data program shows hot spots of activity concentrated in downtown, the Central District, Capitol Hill, the University District, South Seattle and along Aurora Avenue North.

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Jordan Royer, senior policy adviser with Mayor Greg Nickels' office, said it's important for those in the community to see the information police have gathered and learn what they are doing to combat drug-related crime.

"This is a big morale booster to people," he said.

The Belltown Community Council meeting will be at 6:30 tonight in the Labor Temple (Main Hall 1) at 2800 First Ave.

The Police Department began collecting some of this information from 911 calls and reports from beat cops about two years ago, Seattle police Assistant Chief Linda Pierce said.

But it was only in recent months that analysts were able to take the raw data they were gathering and put it into a form that made sense to precinct commanders and narcotics investigators.

Calls reporting drug activity and reports from patrol officers can be broken down into any one of 64 police beats. They can also be plotted on a map, something precinct commanders can understand and use to help direct patrols.

In one case, the data collected between January and April 2005 showed a high number of 911 calls reporting drug dealing along Third and Fourth avenues between Lenora and Bell streets in Belltown.

The same map for January to April of this year showed the drug activity shifted and is now concentrated along Bell Street and northward.

Although it seemed to just move the problem along, police said, that isn't always a bad thing, because it also diminishes the activity by forcing dealers into new environments.

"You want to make it difficult for them to do business," Capt. Steve Brown said.

Drug crime continues to be a concern to many Seattle residents.

A telephone survey the city conducted last summer of more than 1,200 residents found more than 30 percent who said crime was a problem in their neighborhood reported that drug crime was the biggest problem.